WELCOME TO GORDON. 97 opening of the Suakim- Berber route by a British force. As early as February ist he had telegraphed from Assouan that Hussein Pasha Khalifa hoped to be able to open that road in a few days; but we know how that became impossible. It will be seen that, active as were Gordon's preparations for evacuating the country, he simultaneously provided for its pacification and the establishment of a settled government, so that on his retirement some one might succeed him.

On the 14th of February Gordon left Berber on his way to Shendy, where the people assembled on the river bank to receive him with acclamations. They regarded him as their deliverer, and their chiefs were ready to confer with him. Instead of the clanger from lurking Arabs, which had been suggested by newspapers and by society in England, the crowd of people here, at the point of the three great caravan roads between Darfur, Sennar, and Suakim, hailed him as the representative of justice. The proclamation which had preceded him to Khartum removed the doubts and suspicions which many there were inclined to hold regarding the claims that would be made upon them for arrears of oppressive taxes, and for enforcing the decree which would terminate their property in slaves. In England this concession raised a cry of mingled surprise and denunciation, and in some instances a cry of grief too; but people here could not estimate what slavery meant in that country, and that it was only the retention of existing domestic slaves — an institution which could not, under the circumstances, be altered — that was contemplated by Gordon. It offended numbers of people here, but it helped to restore Gordon to his old footing of confidence and power at Khartum, and he could not possibly have refused to recognize the existence and the continuance of slavery in that form. At all events, to Khartum he went on the 1 8th of February, and there, amidst enthusiastic crowds who pressed forward to kiss his hands and salute him as the saviour ol the country, he passed through the city.

The arrival of Gordon and Stewart entirely changed the aspect of affairs at Khartum. " I came without soldiers, God on my side, to redress the evils of the Soudan. I will not fight with any \ 1.. in. 43